Technical Abstract:
Background: Multi-drug resistance in foodborne pathogens has markedly increased in recent years. The need for an integrated surveillance system between human, food and veterinary microbiology laboratories has been emphasized by the World Health Organization. Methods: Salmonella and quinolone-resistant E. coli were isolated from patients with diarrhea, asymptomatic children in kindergartens, and retail poultry and pork from 5 cities throughout Yucatan, Mexico. Identical isolation and identification methods were used for both human and food samples. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for all isolates using the disk diffusion method according to NCCLS standards. 10% of Salmonella strains isolated from retail meat were resistant to >/= 3 antibiotics compared to only 4% of Salmonella isolated from humans (p= 0.03, OR= 2.8). 36% of quinolone-resistant E. coli isolated from meat were resistant to >/= 4 antibiotics compared to 16% of these isolates from humans (p= 0.0001, OR= 2.7). Conclusions: Salmonella and quinolone- resistant E. coli isolates from meat tend to be more multi-drug resistant than those isolates from humans. Further investigation is warranted to determine the source of these multiresistant isolates.